[LP CYOA] Epic

[Baltika9]

So, you two don't see Ean the same way I do, eh? Because the impression I get from his character is that he'll keep getting up until he's dead for good. He doesn't take the cowards way out, or the reasonable way out, but he takes the path of a fighter. No surrender 'till I'm dead for good.
As for this tragic character shtick, Ean is what we make him and how me mold him. He's been tragic up to this point, but death and betrayal have a way of teaching people and opening their eyes. Making them smarter, if you will.

Besides, in the event that we do end up a cosmic monstrosity, we'll be playing as either Khorne or Chtulhu. And I really see zero downsides to that.

 

[Anabanana]

A will win, so it makes no difference anyways, but my rationale for voting B is that I believe that Ean is a tragic hero. That's why we've been so invested in his struggle, his greatest virtue is also his downfall. I believe that there is simply no way we can succeed in the long-term here. It just won't happen. For fuck's sake, we couldn't get our powers now, what makes you think managing the side effects of this resurrection will make things at all easier? It will only make things harder.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and I think that if Ean chooses to live, he'll only bring darkness and pain on the human race. I can't envision a single scenario where this will all lead to a happy ending. At this point, the kindest thing he can do is die and hope that another immortal can take up his cause.

I like that you're consistent with your reasoning and votes

 

[Anabanana]

Making them smarter, if you will.

Too bad the intelligence upgrade didn't come in time for Ean to actually avoid this whole permadeath situation in the first place, eh?

 

[Esquilax]

So, you two don't see Ean the same way I do, eh? Because the impression I get from his character is that he'll keep getting up until he's dead for good. He doesn't take the cowards way out, or the reasonable way out, but he takes the path of a fighter. No surrender 'till I'm dead for good.
As for this tragic character shtick, Ean is what we make him and how me mold him. He's been tragic up to this point, but death and betrayal have a way of teaching people and opening their eyes. Making them smarter, if you will.

This is naive. He's not tragic up to this point, the character, his existence is tragic. That's what I'm trying to get across. He is a truly good man in a world full of people with their own petty self-interests. Theseus betrayed us for a piece of pussy that was his anyways.

He is a warrior, he always has been, but he's always fought for a purpose in mind. He has never fought for the sake of battle itself. Bringing down the attention of the Gieloth and the Masters and turning Earth into a hellzone under some self-righteous pretense that we can make things better is irresponsible (not in Ean's character) and dangerous to mankind. His duty has been to protect humanity, and now it's clear to me that he can no longer fulfill that duty without becoming a greater danger to mankind than those he fights against.

If you can foresee a way that this story is going to have a happy ending, I'd like to hear it. Because I sure can't. Seriously, we're just going to progress from bad to worse. Better to die with our honor intact and begin anew, I think.

Besides, in the event that we do end up a cosmic monstrosity, we'll be playing as either Khorne or Chtulhu. And I really see zero downsides to that.

Yeah, fuck that. I don't want that at all. Becoming a mockery of all we stood for, nothing but an avatar of rage, hunger and bloodlust with only the faintest recollections of the man we once were? That sounds more like Akachi, and Ean would rather die than face such a fate. Not sure why you think that's cool, I think it's sad and tragic.

 

[Baltika9]

snip

I'll bite. Here goes. Would be easier with some beer, but I'll make do.

The high road is about not taking the easy way out. It's about making the tougher decisions, the uncertain ones, the ones where you never know the long-term consequences for yourself and those around you. Standing up to the Nazism and Communism was suicide (but only because those doing it had one life to give, see what I did there?) and dangerous for your friends and family, hell, even your entire village/town/city. And those people lost, because, in the end, they were broken. They broke because they were human, and a human can only endure so much before his mind and spirit surrender and die.

Now, enter Ean. Above not giving up, Ean is the one who does not break, because he is immortal and because he is power. Technically speaking, Ean is more than a simple human now, he is Nietzsche's Ubermensch wet dream, if we have the balls to make him one and not get into wangsty poetry about hopelessness, tragedy and good death. Ean can afford to stand up to them because he has the power to do so, because he will not break and he will not die easily. Again, if we have the balls to make him this way. Think of this as the end of Act I, since you like theatrics so much. The "Loss of Innocence" stage. The end of childhood, and the beginning of adolescence. Ean has learnt to let go of a stupidly following ideals and start thinking like a grown-ass fucking adult. You say "fuck that" to becoming a Chaos God, I say "fuck that" to acting like a naive child anymore (although it's my bad bros, I had the swing vote and flopped, but then lost my nerve. So much for having balls, huh? )

Now, as to the whole "surviving will call down Exterminatus on Earth." This gave me some pause, but then I realized: who the hell, except treave, knows what will happen? Will we even be forced to devour everything in our path? Will we have no control of the hunger? Maybe we'll even only need to feed on immortlas and gieloth, or they will at least do as a substitute meal (eating these guys, I have nothing against, except Sekhenun and Shulgi. As someone said before, "no gods, no masters.")

And who can say the kind of attention we'll get from Imnmortals and the Gieloth? Who says they'll notice immediately. The masters will probably note someone, somewhere went off the grid with a trollface. Maybe they'll find out it's us. And what will they do? They can't appear here without strong voodoo. And there's a reason for that, I think. Most likely they are on the ass-end of the galaxy, maybe even of the universe. Space travel can be long and unpredictable, I'm told.

And, apparently, not every immortal wants them here (ean and Shulgi make two, and I'm sure there's more), and the Gieloth sure-as-fuck don't. And those that want to summon them can just get devoured by Ean to feed his power and hunger. And who says the Gieloth won't want an off-the-hook Immortal for an ally, huh? Besides, can Ean die without giving Sekhenun a good smack on her booty?

As for Khorne, the guy's actually not all that bad. For instance, the one quality everyone seems to forget about, including GW, is that he's rather averse to killing civilians, because there's no battle in that. I think we can work with that.

Now I'll just hope you'll read this shit. Writing this much without saying something stupid is not a thing I like to do.

 

[Tigranes]

We'll have a Spirit Meter, obviously.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Theseus knows of your fake sob story, you told him just in case. If things were different he'd have fetched it for you. But alas, Ariadne is a bigger priority. And I'll offer a choice of immortals should Ean kick the bucket here.

So there was no betrayal. He just thought he refused the quest to find and return the statue to our village (which is what we told him was our goal). And since Ean was dying in pain he helped him the only way he could.

And we should definitely stick with Ean as character. I mean, Shulgi? He started a rebellion the moment the king's back was turned. And not a very smart rebellion in the first place either - he had no chance of winning without completely destroying the country in the process, even if we weren't fighting against him. He's a twerp whose ambitions far outstrip his abilities and doesn't give a shit about anyone he hurts along the way. Naram is a fanatic, pure and simple. And the less said about that bitch on an island the better. I say that out of the immortals we have seen Ean is by far the most interesting and moral character. So full speed ahead in the same direction I say - if there will be a price to pay for our resurrection Ean will overcome that as well. You do not become an immortal guardian of humanity by just giving up and dying.

 

[Baltika9]

What Zero Cred said. To become God Emprah you gotta have balls. Big ones and made of steel.

 

[newcomer]

To become God Emprah you gotta have balls. Big ones and made of steel.

And a long, big, phallus made of steel, and strong vitality and will to break through any hymen. Unlike Shulgi

 

[treave]

A – 11
B – 5

Chapter 4.9: Daedalus’s Tower

You open your eyes. The sun shines brightly from a nearby window. You are no longer underground, it seems. Looking around you, you find that you are in a small room, sparsely furnished. The bed you are lying on, a wooden desk, and a chair are all that are there, enclosed by stone walls and a cheap-looking door. You can hear seagulls in the distance, and smell the sea breeze blowing in from the window.

Gritting your teeth, you raise yourself up and attempt to get yourself off the bed. It takes all your effort, and at the end of it you accomplish nothing but sprawling yourself on the floor. It appears that your body has regenerated, but you have not fully recovered yet. You feel horrendously weak and faint.

At that moment, an old man opens the door and steps through it. Seeing you on the floor, he lets out a gleeful laugh.

“Marvelous! My mysterious guest has awoken!”

He hurries to your side and helps you back on the bed. Stepping back, he gives you a once-over, glancing at your body.

“Remarkable. Regeneration and revival from death to consciousness in no more than a year. Would that I had more knowledge of the human anatomy, I could better appreciate this wonder.”

“A year?” You choke out your first words.

The old man looks you in the eye. “A year since I picked you up in the Labyrinth, boy. You were a real mess when I found you. I’d have thought you dead, but suddenly you began twitching about. Brought you back here with me, and you’ve been here ever since. The gods know I have nothing much on my hands nowadays anyway.”

“I guess I have to thank you, then, for not leaving me there to rot.”

The old man smiles at you. “Oh, you’re welcome. This old coot has nothing much to occupy himself with nowadays.”

***

It takes another three months before you are able to move by yourself. You spend the days conversing with the old man. His name was Daedalus, and he claimed to be the architect of the Labyrinth. Minos had imprisoned him in the tower you were currently in right after the construction was complete. The tower’s base lay close to the Labyrinth, and Daedalus had in secret connected his dwelling to his great masterpiece. Daedalus made occasional jaunts into the maze to collect materials for his works. He was a prolific inventor, and took pleasure in showing you the many marvellous constructs he had made over the years. Minos had shared with him quite a bit of the knowledge that the Gieloth possessed, and with that knowledge he had designed the Labyrinth, as well as several other constructs and buildings for the King of Crete.

As the days pass, you feel your strength return… but your powers do not.
As the weeks pass, you feel a small, niggling hunger within you that cannot be quenched by bread or soup.

It grows.

***

Six months to the day that you awoke in the tower, Daedalus comes into your room, alarmed.

“My friend, stay in this room and hide if you can, quickly. Minos’s guards are paying a surprise visit.”

Before you can ask him for more details, he leaves the room hurriedly. The tower’s main entrance was served by a retractable stairway, another of Daedalus’s inventions, operated from the ground below. The guards must be visiting using that. You stay still, wishing that you had a weapon. Daedalus had not found the Honourblade with you, and you wonder if you had lost it for good within the Labyrinth. There are muffled words exchanged. You can make out “…deadline…patience…deliver…”, and as the exchange grows more heated, you hear a guard yell “The king will have you before his throne, dead or alive!” Then there are sounds of a scuffle.

It would not be like you to wait. You burst from the room. There is only one guard there, his sword raised against a fallen Daedalus. Your appearance catches the guard by total surprise. With one swift thrust, your fist slams into the man’s unguarded neck. As he stumbles back, you leap upon him and push him back against the wall.

Suddenly, you are so, so hungry.

Before you know what you are doing, you have sunk your teeth into his throat. The taste of his flesh and blood is like nectar. You gulp down your first bite greedily, and then go for a second. And another.

The fifth bite completely satiates your hunger, and you throw down the lifeless man, his face ripped apart by your teeth.

You realize what you have just done, and you retch. Try as you might, though, your body refuses to give up the meat you just ripped from another man’s body.

Daedalus looks at you in horror. You can feel the fear radiating from him, just as you can sense that there were five other guards waiting impatiently below.

You flex your fingers, feeling like you could crush a man’s neck with your grip.

“My friend…” begins Daedalus.

“I think I should be leaving now, Daedalus.” You give an apologetic smile. The effect is rather tarnished by the blood still staining your lips. Daedalus mimes a motion of wiping his mouth, and nods. He glances at the dead guard.

“I am sorry, but that would be for the best.” Daedalus gestures at the dead guard. Do not worry about me, I can take care of myself and his friends.”

Wondering about your sudden craving for human flesh, or agonizing about it, would have to wait. It looks like it is time for you to leave, but how?

***

A. You spot a pair of wings that Daedalus had made, a long time ago. He claims that they work, but he would never use them again as penance for his sins. You strap them to your back and leap out the window, trusting yourself to his creation.

B. There is a ball of thread, identical to the one Theseus had gotten from Ariadne, lying on a shelf. You grab it and descend to the base of the tower, planning your escape via the Labyrinth.

C. The stairway is still attached, the guards are still waiting downstairs. You walk out the main door. Taking out those guards would probably help Daedalus out somewhat. You are past caring whatever Minos will think.

 

[Esquilax]

Baltika9:

As for Nurgle, the guy's actually not all that bad. For instance, if you follow him and accept all of his pox-ridden blessings, he treats you like family. Can we not turn everything into a Warhammer fanfic?

You mentioned this as being a time to stop acting as a naive child right now. In my mind, there's nothing more naive than thinking things will somehow get better after this. Staying alive now will have terrible consequences, so that ship has sailed:

At any rate, this is another 'principled' choice. Devour the voices which have granted you power, regardless of the consequences, or make your peace with your impending death.

I think you're using a lot of emotional appeals to prove your point. Accepting death is the emo pussy way out, DEVOUR SOUL!! is ballsy and the only choice for real manly men.

oscar compared Ean to Ned Stark, which is pretty apt. Not just because he is honorable to a fault, but for another reason: Ned Stark died in the first act of his respective saga. I understand that people are invested in this character and they don't want him to die - Ean is awesome - but even though we've had a ton of updates, very little actual time has passed.

Tell me, if we decide to stay alive, how long do you think we'll live? We're 400 years into this saga, how long do you envision Ean staying alive by fighting all the forces arrayed against him while at the same time trying to maintain control over his dark, cosmic hunger during a time when human civilization is still just starting out? Oh, and doing all of this without any allies to boot. (What, you think Sekhenun is going to stick around? We're a ticking time bomb, and her priority is survival, so she'll try to get away as fast as possible). The odds are not good.

This situation is tragic, and there's no brilliant plan in the woodwork that'll allow us to somehow magic our way out of it. Things will not get any better, only worse.

Edit: And just like that, we're cursed. The road to hell, indeed.

 

[treave]

edit: It's unfortunate, but you have no real way of obtaining the nourishment your new hunger requires via more tasteful means for the time being. You will have to eat, just like all men eat. It's just that your diet requires a bit more... variety to it, once in a while.

 

[Baltika9]

snip

We'll survive as long as we figure out a way to. I'm not deluding myself as to being abandoned by Sekhenun(And if that's the case, we might want to look into devouring her/it first. Precaution. Then again, she might have scientific interest in Ean's condition) or the difficulty of our situation. However, worse than losing is not trying at all.

For a start, we wake up and figure out what's going on. Then, we take some time to adjust and learn what happened to us, catalogue the changes, basic damage assessment.

Thing is, if this hunger thing is not a big problem, we may look into creating more of these unbound. And if this will be the course of Ean's self destruction, and Earth's final doom, at least it'll be entertaining to watch.

This is Codex. You expected something else?

 

[Zero Credibility]

B.

But before we escape let's check out the place where we fought the Minotaur - our weapon could still be there. We can use the thread to guide us there. We should try to find Sekhenun when we escape - she might have some answers about our condition (she does seem to have a similar hunger herself).

Edit: Let's also check out the vault while we are in there - we might find something useful (like enough money to get us of the island).

 

[Anabanana]

C

DEVOUR EVERYTHING

 

[Baltika9]

edit: It's unfortunate, but you have no real way of obtaining the nourishment your new hunger requires via more tasteful means for the time being. You will have to eat, just like all men eat. It's just that your diet requires a bit more... variety to it, once in a while.

 

[Baltika9]

B.

But before we escape let's check out the place where we fought the Minotaur - our weapon could still be there. We can use the thread to guide us there. We should try to find Sekhenun when we escape - she might have some answers about our condition (she does seem to have a similar hunger herself).

Edit: Let's also check out the vault while we are in there - we might find something useful (like enough money to get us of the island).

You must've meant A. B is the lay down and die option.

 

[ScubaV]

B

Let's look for Anbar-shi, although we may have consumed/absorbed it through the revival process.

 

[newcomer]

You can feel the fear radiating from him, just as you can sense that there were five other guards waiting impatiently below.

treave
I request confirmation, is this sense as in "mind reading" ability ?

If it is, then our choice is clear

C B to test our hunger with lesser beings

 

[m4davis]

B

 

[Zero Credibility]

You must've meant A. B is the lay down and die option.

Nope. B it is. Treave has made another update, and yes, things look bad for our hero.

 

[treave]

You can feel the fear radiating from him, just as you can sense that there were five other guards waiting impatiently below.

treave
I request confirmation, is this sense as in "mind reading" ability ?

If it is, then our choice is clear

C

Yes. You're not back to full power though.

 

[Smashing Axe]

C...
We're hungry.

 

[newcomer]

Now the only thing I want to test is whether Ean can bend his body in angles impossible for human, and whether his wounds get covered by a fucking black tentacle

And don't forget to say hi to our friendly shepherd

 

[Zero Credibility]

Oh crap, we aren't going to jump immediately to the DEVOUR SOUL bandwagon, are we? Not again.

Daedalus told us he can take care of himself. So let's just get out of here as quickly as we can. Feeding again so soon when it is not necessary will only increase our hunger and we all know how that ended last time. Plus, I really want to find our old weapon if it still exists. I wonder if it would still work the same way, amplifying any power we might have.